Blog

wikiGong continues to collect and use environmentally-generated audio, including that generated by non-human organisms. Jacob‘s long fascination with apiculture–he is an active member of the Long Beach Beekepers–and our incipient dread of the impact of species collapse suggested our theme for soundpedro 2019. Blessings for the Bees of the Dead is a sound art performance: […]

…in which we also post a retread and a promise…. My pal Dave Hood recently left me some tips about how to approach the Hetch Hetchy aqueduct to get a field recording. We’d guess the pipes are singing much of the time. As with many such guesses there is one way to find out: head […]

…in which repairs lead to forensics…. My wife calls it “the world’s best rain stick,” especially when it has gone temporarily missing from its usual place and she is hunting it down for some reason. It hasn’t had a “usual place” for a few years now, and “some reason” is most likely an impending rehearsal […]

…in which we try again…with extended reach! Bay Bridge Assay 2—our second visit to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge—took place on March 19, 2016. My primary objective was to collect some actual cable samples; secondary was to introduce Jacob to yet another bridge. As mentioned in Bay Bridge Assay 1, safety barriers prevented me from […]

Remembering Paul Davis, DS ’77, d. January 2014. Jacob and I took a walk in Alviso the other day—that’s where the pictures here were taken—and got talking about this letter, briefly. We walked and watched as little squalls came up over the hills from the coast, most passing a few miles to the north, heading […]

…in which our our grasp exceeds our natural reach. In our last installment, my quarry escaped because my arms were too short. Thanks to safety railings and other impediments placed to ensure public well-being by well-meaning civil engineers, the objects of our auditory desire are often out of reach. The long—and short—of it is we […]

2015-11-05: Bay Bridge Assay 1, our first visit to the new span with mic and camera. My friend Martin and I conducted wikiGong’s first recording of the new eastern span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in November 2015. I’d wondered about the Bay Bridge for a while: after the Golden Gate, it seemed like […]

…in which we contemplate the circumstances calling for neckties. I nearly never sit down to write a poem about “crossing over.” It was more on my mind over a decade ago, when I still smoked, but even then it wasn’t something I felt I needed to express. That’s come and gone over the years—the urge […]

…in which I try out the “Ultimate 545.” “Vintage” is an odd adjective, no longer just the year of a wine pressing, but the quality of an old thing, purported by age to be somehow valuable. This value inheres typically to things organic, be they edible or playable. Vintage musical instruments are much sought-after, and […]

…in which we visit the rockets of Huntsville. I had a business trip come up this week and found myself in Huntsville, Alabama ahead of schedule. Actually, I was on schedule according to the original itinerary but, as reality took over, plans changed and our party ended up with a couple of hours on our […]